As you have recently seen, many Unions, along with many residents, are greatly troubled by what appears to be a stark double standard between athletes/performers, on the one hand, and public employees, on the other, regarding continuation of the vaccine mandates. While a number of Unions had challenged the vaccine mandates as intrusive and unneeded in light of testing options, it was one thing to abide when the mandate was applied uniformly but it is another to treat public employees in a less favorable, discriminatory manner. This is all the more disturbing when one considers that these workers, without fanfare or glory, came to their jobs each day facing the perils of COVID-19 in person during the worst of the pandemic to provide services to the residents of this great City. That the Nets or Mets might be at some disadvantage in having roster limitations hardly seems to have greater public import than in the loss of livelihood to hard-working New Yorkers who are the backbone of this City. Moreover, while the City has an understandable interest in the public health, the City has in recent weeks moved towards a return to normalcy, jettisoning much of the vaccine limitations in the private sector. In light of these developments, we ask, on behalf of the NYC Municipal Labor Committee, that the City meet with us to address issues regarding the groups of public employees who were summarily terminated or who went on unpaid leave for being unvaccinated and have a right to return. Fairness requires that this move towards normalcy also apply to the people who have served the City. Just as the City reached out to the MLC and the Unions for their cooperation and support in keeping the City going and fighting back the pandemic, we now look to you, as restrictions are being rolled back, to work with us to ease the burden on public employees. We ask to meet across the table and discuss pathways for all affected employees to return to work and continue to serve the City and its residents.
